Let's go back a little more than five years and revisit the Great Quarterback Debate. It was February 2007, and Peyton Manning was in Miami getting ready to play in his first Super Bowl. The next week, Drew Brees was in Honolulu preparing to play in his second Pro Bowl. It was in the midst of a time when the NFL's best quarterback topic was but a two-man competition.

"There's no doubt, Peyton and Tom Brady are at the top," Brees told The Denver Post then. "I feel like there's no reason I can't be among those guys, but at this point, if you look at what they've accomplished, not only statistically but in number of wins, that's what you strive for."

Now, let's advance the Great Quarterback Debate to Sunday night at Sports Authority Field at Mile High. Brees is here getting ready to lead the New Orleans Saints against Manning and the Broncos.

In the five years since Brees himself anointed Manning and Brady as the best, the Saints quarterback has done everything he can to make it a three-man race. And a case can be made that Brees is at the top of the list. Brady missed all but one quarter of 2008 with a knee injury. Manning missed all of 2011 with a neck injury. Brees, meanwhile, has stayed healthy to become the most prolific passer in the NFL, throwing for a staggering 30,491 yards over the past 6½ years, an average of 4,783 yards per season.

Last year, he broke Dan Marino's league season yardage record, which had stood for 27 seasons. A few weeks ago, Brees broke Johnny Unitas' record for most consecutive games with a touchdown pass, which held for 52 years.

"If you want to talk about who's the best in the league, you could argue that he's the best," Broncos cornerback Champ Bailey said of Brees. "Nobody's really done what he's done."

After throwing for a record 5,476 yards in 2011, Brees is on pace for nearly 5,600 yards passing this season. And only the Broncos can stop Brees from a touchdown pass that would give him 300 in his career, tying him with John Elway for sixth place all time, while also extending his consecutive touchdown record to 50 games.

"A season record is one thing," Manning said. "But any records that span over three or four years tell you what a consistent player he's been since he's gotten there. Obviously, that offense is based around him and they've just kind of flourished and gotten better and better every year."

Along with all his gaudy stats — maybe even topping them — is how Brees outdueled Manning in Super Bowl XLIV after the 2009 season. Manning played well in that game for Indianapolis, but Brees seemingly had the ball in his hands the entire middle two quarters. Perhaps sensing the urgency to keep up, Manning forced a slant throw in the fourth quarter that Saints (now Broncos) cornerback Tracy Porter picked off and returned for a game-clinching touchdown.

For the first time since Brees was named the MVP of that Super Bowl, he and Manning meet again. Would Brees admit that for this game he deserves to be considered in the Brady-Manning pantheon of NFL greats?

"I still think those guys are the standard," Brees said. "And I say that because they've done it so consistently for so long. Certainly, they're not only going to go down as the best of our generation but two of the best of all time."

And then Brees brought in a fourth quarterback to the discussion.

"Look at what Aaron Rodgers has done in the last three years," Brees said. "That's been pretty impressive."

Indeed, Rodgers led Green Bay to the Super Bowl title after the 2010 season, then a 15-1 record while posting the all-time best passer rating last season, and is on a roll this year, having thrown nine touchdown passes against zero interceptions in his past two games.

Then there are youngsters such as Robert Griffin III and Cam Newton, dual-threat quarterbacks who bring an extraordinary amount of athleticism to the position.

"There's lots of guys that if you look at it, study a little bit, you say, 'Man, how are they doing that so well?' " Brees said. "I want some of that, whatever they're doing. I've got to figure that out."

Over the past month, as Brees was assaulting some of the NFL's most familiar records, as Rodgers was taking the quarterback position to another stratosphere, as RGIII's image was exploding into living rooms across the NFL landscape, Manning and Brady haven't exactly been shabby. Manning is on a four-game stretch in which he has thrown 11 touchdown passes against just one pick while averaging 328.5 yards passing per game. Overall, Brady, Manning and his younger brother, Eli Manning, are tied for second in the league with an average of 301 yards passing yards per game. Brees ranks first by nearly half a football field, with 350 yards per game.

"When it's all said and done — and hopefully I can play this game for as long as I can ..." Brees said. "But at the end of the day, I would love to be considered in that category."